DOES MY DOG NEED TO BE TRAINED?

Yes. Service animals must be trained to perform a specific task which helps aid or assist the owner with their disability. Service dogs can be trained by the owner or any other individual and are not required to be trained by a certified dog trainer.

Examples of service animal tasks include but are not exclusive to:

• Provides tactile grounding via nuzzling or licking

• Helps ground patient during an emotional episode

• Retrieves items / Medication

• Lays across handler to provide Deep Pressure Therapy during panic attacks

• Reminding a mentally ill person to take their medicine

• Alerting or leading a deaf person

• Escorting a disoriented person to a safe place

• Stopping or disrupting self-destructive behaviors

• Helping someone remain safe during a seizure

AS AN OWNER WHAT ARE MY RIGHTS?

Businesses and government facilities may inquire if a dog is a service animal, but they are not allowed to request documentation that the animal is registered, licensed, or certified. They may not ask the dog to demonstrate its task, nor inquire about the person’s disability for which it is required.

They are only allowed to ask the following questions:

• Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability?

• What task or work has the dog been trained to perform?

PUBLIC SPACES:

The purpose of a service animal is to provide assistance to someone with a disability, wherever they may be. Therefore, the animal can generally accompany their person anywhere, including places that don’t allow pets. This includes schools, restaurants, hospitals, shops, and hotels. In California this also applies to any public conveyance or mode of transportation, public or private.

• Those with service animals may not be treated differently nor separated from the public or other patrons of an establishment. The business cannot insist they are seated outside away from other customers, assuming the animal is behaving and not creating a threat to safety.

• Service dog owners cannot be charged any additional fees for their accommodation (for example at a hotel).

• An individual can have multiple service animals that serve different purposes. However it may be possible that an establishment cannot reasonably accommodate both, such as in a crowded space. In this case, they may ask that one of the dogs be left outside.

IN THE WORKPLACE:

Under the ADA and California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), employees and job applicants cannot be discriminated against disability in the workplace. This means that employers must try to make reasonable accommodations which include allowing service animals. This however does not apply to businesses under 5 employees or nonprofit religious organizations.

EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES:

Under the Individuals with Disabilities Act, service animals can accompany their owner into schools, colleges, universities, any building of learning, etc. Whether a disability or impairment is physical or mental, if someone needs the support of a service animal to learn in a facility, it must be allowed.

CAN MY ANIMAL BE ASKED TO LEAVE?

All service animals must be well trained, behaving, housebroken, and under control by their owner. A service animal can be excluded or denied in certain situations:

• If the dog’s presence would “fundamentally alter” the nature of the business (i.e. in an operating room, food processing facility, zoo etc.).

• An animal that is “out of control”, creating a direct threat to the safety of others, or relieving itself can be removed from an establishment. In this scenario the business must try to still accommodate the owner, even if outside the business. Read more

A service animal cannot be denied because of allergies or someone’s fears of the animal while it is behaving properly. If other patrons are having issue being around the animal, it is the responsibility of the business to attempt to seat or accommodate both parties away from each other.

HOUSING:

As stated and covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), housing providers cannot refuse to make reasonable accommodations to disabled persons regarding a Service Animal, with few exceptions. Read More

• Disclosure of a disability is not required and proof of condition cannot be requested, however a landlord may require proof from a qualified medical professional stating you have a disability which requires you to have a service animal.

• All pet fees & deposits shall be waived and pet restrictions cannot be applied.

CAN I TRAVEL WITH A SERVICE ANIMAL?

FLYING:

While the Americans with Disabilities Act covers airports and terminals, the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) covers the airline, the services they provide, and the airplane itself. All U.S. air carriers’ operations and airplanes are covered by the ACAA. All foreign air carriers’ flights that begin or end at U.S. airports and the aircraft being used on these flights are covered by the ACAA.

ACCOMMODATIONS:

• Service animals must also be allowed onto flights within and from the US as provisioned by the ACAA. However, airlines may request a Department of Transportation “Service Animal Air Transportation Form" as a condition. Read More

• Owner does not have to pay any additional pet fees for their service animal.

• In the terminal, airlines must provide animal relief areas. Upon request, airlines must escort individuals traveling with service animals to these areas.

• Airlines are required to allow service animals traveling with individuals with a disability to sit with them in the cabin of the airplane. If requested prior to the flight’s departure, the traveler must be given a bulkhead seat.

• On the airplane the traveler must provide all food, care, and supervision for their service animal.

INTERSTATE:

Service dogs are covered under federal law, therefore you have the same rights to keep your animal with you wherever you may travel within the US.

DOES MY SERVICE ANIMAL NEED TO WEAR A VEST OR DESIGNATION?

Many choose to have their animal wear a vest or tag to designate its job as a service animal, but it is not required. Likewise, an animal wearing such an item does not necessarily mean it is a service animal. It however must be under leash or harness, unless it interferes with the animal’s task or the owner is physically unable to handle it this way. In this case the owner must have control over some other way, such as with signals or verbally.

DOES A SERVICE DOG NEED TO BE CERTIFIED OR REGISTERED?

A service animal does not need special certification or registration, and therefore does not need to show it. The dog does however have to follow local registration and veterinary requirements as a normal pet would. The only proof that may be necessary is a medical note qualifying the owner’s need for a service animal. This is what our recommendation letter provides.

Resources:

https://www.ada.gov/topics/service-animals/

https://www.transportation.gov/individuals/aviation-consumer-protection/service-animals

https://www.disabilityrightsca.org/publications/fact-sheet-service-animals-in-business-and-public-spaces

https://www.ada.gov/resources/service-animals-faqs/